Hair waving device



May 23, 1939. J. METZ HAIR WAVING DEVICE Filed Nov. 1'7, 1956 f 3 4. w, .mi ...d fr, 4 MW.- ,M m w m @o w e M` @f w uw M INVENTOR JOHN METZA ATTO R N EYS Patented May 23, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 10 Claims.

The invention relates in general to a hair waving device in which a plurality of hair waving heaters are mounted in electric sockets to complete a heating circuit through self-contained heating elements and when separately removed from the sockets utilized in effecting a heating of the hair in practicing hair waving, specifically that type of hair waving known as Croquignole waves.

More specifically defined, the invention relates to a form of apparatus which is free from the usual electric wires in the heater element and in which current carrying elements engaging the removable heaters are for the most part concealed and protected from external accidental contact.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simplified, easily manipulated device of the type outlined in which the movable parts or other parts which are apt to become damaged or get out of order in both the heater parts as well as in the current supplying part of the complete device, have been minimized and in which structural parts are, for the most part, formed as fixed parts in the factory assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structure particularly in the current supplying socket forming parts which features safety to the user in the providing of protective features which will tend to resist accidental short circuiting of the electric current and which will tend to minimize possibility of the operator burning his fingers in handling the hot heaters.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of device embodying the invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination cf parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one end of a cabinet illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention and shown with a couple of the heaters in position being heated;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through two of the heater receiving sockets of Fig. 1 with a pair of heaters located in position in the two sockets;

Fig. 3 is a plan view looking down upon one of the heaters and with a portion of one of the handles broken away to show internal construction; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view through one half of the heater shown in Fig. 3 and taken on the broken line .4-4 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

In the drawing and referring first to the disclosure in Fig. 1 there is shown a hollow cabinet I containing the necessary wiring leads to the several electrical parts hereinafter described and shown supplied from the usual house lighting system or other source of electric energy through the cable II. The cabinet is of storied structure to provide ready access to the heaters in the sockets without interference one from the other as they are quickly inserted and removed from their position on the cabinet. In the instant case there are shown two upper bars recessed to form two rows of sockets and two lower bars similarly recessed and located on opposite longitudinal sides of the cabinet: As the construction is the same in each row the detailed description of one row will be suicient for the other. Each row of sockets is provided with a control switch I2 and the circuits so controlled include a pilot light I3 to indicate to the user that that particular row is connected with the source of electric energy.

Referring to any one of the rows of sockets, it is noted that they are formed in a long bar I4 of heat insulating material and for convenience in manufacturing the bar is formed of a plurality of separate contact carrying blocks I5 formed for the most part of interior inverted T- shaped form and end blocks I6 of L-shaped form. It is appreciated that by this construction the bar Il may be constructed of any desired length by using two of the end blocks and the requisite number of intermediate T-shaped blocks. The block assembly provides a line of rectangular open-top socket forming recesses Il designed and shaped to form heater containing spaces, or rather spaces for receiving portions of the handles of the heaters as hereinafter described. Opposite sides of the bars, that is the front and rear sides, are exposed and the bars are designed insofar as their height is concerned so as to contain the hot jaw forming portion of the heaters in a protected space in rear of the bars as particularly shown in Fig. 1. The bottoms of the recesses form heater receiving surfaces I8. Each socket or recess Il is defined on its opposite sides by opposing walls I9 and 20 and each wall is provided with a vertically extending shallow groove 2I extending from the top of the bar to the surface I8 or almost so.

Describing any one of the blocks as by reference to the middle block, Fig. 2, there is shown embedded therein an upper cylindrical metal rod 22 opposite ends of which form a pair of upper xed terminals 23 and 24. A vertically extending combined conductor rod and fastening element 25 has its upper end screwed into the rod 22 and depends thereof lcentrally of its associated block and protrudesbelow the same and terminates at its lower end in a threaded end 26. There is also embedded in each of the blocks a pair of lower fixed terminals 21 and 28 insulated from each other by the material of which the blocks is formed. Terminals 23 and 21 are on the left side of the showing at the center of Fig. 2 and exposed in the associated groove 2l. Similarly the terminals 24 and 28 are exposed in the associated groove on the right hand side of the block. The lower xed terminalsare provided respectively with contact rods 29 and 30 having their upper ends threaded into the lower xed terminals 21 and 28 and having their lower ends provided with heads 3l. Each lower terminal of one block is connected physically and electrically with the next adjacent xed lower terminal on the opposite side of the associated socket by meansof a tie plate 32 held in place by the heads 3|. By this means the lower ter minals of each socket are permanently and electrically connected together. rIhe tie plates are contained within a -channel 33 contained in the underside of the aligned blocks except the outer ends of the end blocks IG which are not channelled beyond the end rods 25. The rods 25 are secured to the underside of the blocks and insulated therefrom by insulating washers 34 which bridge across the channel 33 and are secured in place by nuts 35 engaging the lower ends of the rods 25.

A source of electric energy is indicated by the main leads 36 and 31 supplied from the cable Il and which leads are connected to the rods 25 by branch leads 38 and 39 alternating connecting succeeding rods so as to provide parallel circuits for each of the sockets with the contact elements of each circuit disposed in series as hereinafter' noted.

The heaters 4I are of identical construction so that any heater can be received indiscriminately into any socket when it is desired to heat the heater so that the detailed description of any one heater will be suflicient for any of the others. Each heater comprisesessentially two identical halves for forming a hair clamp and includes a pair of substantially semi-circular metallic jaws 42 and 43 pivotally connected by means of the long hinge 44 connecting the two jaws as shown in Fig. 3. Each jaw is provided on its outer side with a long, hollow casing 45 containing an electric heating element 46 in turn contained within an insulating jacket 41. Each jaw is provided with a flat handle 48 of insulating material having its inner end conformed to extend from the hinge 44 in partially overlapped relation to the casing 45 as particularly shown in Fig. 3 so as to obtain a relatively wide spreading foot at the base of each handle. The opposite or free end of each handle is provided with a linger engaging aperture 49 and the parts are so proportioned relative to the width of the bars I4 that the free end of the handle containing the apertures 49 projects forwardly beyond the front face of the bars to provide a relatively cool finger engaging portion of the handle which can be grasped by the fingers of the operator without danger of contacting with the hot jaws as the insulating bar is therebetween and thus forms a stop for the ends of the operators ngers. This construction assists in guiding the fingers into the apertures 49 in the quick withdrawal of the heaters from their associated sockets. Each handle is provided on its inner side with a shallow pocket 50 covered with a metal plate 5l which forms an extension from the hinge 44 The plate 5I is backed by an insulating plate 52 carrying a pair of contact buttons 53 and 54 xedly secured thereto and forming the terminals of the associated heating element. Opposite each of the buttons 53 and 54 the insulating portion of each handle is provided with a pair of contact guiding apertures 55 and 56 in which are positioned respectively axially movable contacts 51 and 58, the outer' ends of which are rounded and project slightly beyond the outer face of the associated handle. A relatively weak' spring 59 contained largely within the hollow dome shaped contacts 51 and, 58 bears at one end against the movable contacts and at the opposite end against the companion xed terminals and also acts to complete the circuit between these two terminals as particularly shown in Fig. 2. The contacts 51 and 58 are so arranged relative to the xed terminals 23, 21, 24 and 28, that they are in circuit closing position when the handles engage the bottom surface I8 of the socket. A relatively strong spring 6U is located in the angle between the handles and when in operative position on the head bears on the handles to separate the same and thus cause the jaws to nrmly clamp the hair being operated on as is well known in this practice.

In the instant case the spring G8 performs the additional function, when the heater is in circuit closing position, of moving the handles outwardly relative to each other and into firm pres."-

ing engagement with the opposing walls forming l the sockets. Of course, this spring 58 must have a tension materially greater than the sum of the tensions on the contact springs 59. In order to limit the collapsing movement towards each other of the handles and in this way to protect springs 60 from accidental crushing action, each of the handles is provided at its free end with an intgrally formed stop piece 5E which stop pieces are in opposing relation as shown in Fig. 3 and are also each provided with an air cooling aperture 62 which tends to reduce the amount of material which might otherwise store heat even in the heat insulating material. Spring 5Fl is formed of a single coil of wire, including a cylindrically coiled portion Si?, adjacent the hinge 44 but in dependent thereof. Arms 54 and 55 which project 'rom the coil portion have their outer ends hingedly secured to plate 5l within lugs cut from and bent out of the plane of the plate.

In operation it will be understood that the heaters may be mounted in position in the severa sockets and so long as the switch l2 controlling that particular bank of sockets is in its circuit opening position, nc current will be passed through the heaters in that particular row. the use of the device the switch will be thrown into circuit closing position only ier the bank or banks in which it is desired to have current thercin and in this Way only a part of the large cabinet may be used at any one time. Should it be desired to use a less number of heaters than is required to ll all of the sockets in any one row or bank, itis simply necessary to remove the unnecessary heaters from the bank and thus rcmove from that part of the circuit and its associn ated contacts which lead to the particular socket or sockets so vacated. It is noted for instance that in the showing in Fig. 1 no current will be passing to any of the terminals in the unoccupied sockets even though the control switches may all be in closed position.

Referring to any of the sockets which contain a heater such for instance as the socket to the left of Fig 2, the circuit may be traced from the lead 31 through branch lead 38, left rod 25, upper Illl fixed left terminal 22, hence through the electric heating unit in the left hand half of the heater,

` passing in through upper movable contact l and leaving the heater through the lower movable contact 58. The circuit is continued from the left side of the heater through lower fixed left terminal 28, left rod 30, tie plate 32 to the other associated right contact'rod 29, lower fixed terminal 2l and through the electric heating element 46 in the right hand half of the heater to the upper fixed terminal 23, upper rod 22, rod 25, branch lead 39 to the other main lead 36, thus completing the circuit from one to the other main leads through two breaks in the circuit each contained in its associated half of the heater. The heating elements 46 in the two jaws are independent of each other when removed from the xed terminal assembly herein featured. It is understood that following conventional practices in this art the heaters are permitted to reinainin their circuit closing position until the two heating elements have heated the associated metallic parts of the hair clamping jaws to the desiredl temperature, after which the heaters are withdrawn, one at a time, from the cabinet and inserted in place on the hair under treatment.

When a heater Ahas been cooled below the requisite operating temperature, it is withdrawn from the persons hair and replaced in one of the lsockets of the cabinet and reheated as previously described.

The pair of movable contacts projecting from opposite sides of the heater handles assist in guiding the handles into position as the projecting rounded outer ends of the movable contacts form, in effect, a tongue and groove engagement with the grooves in the opposing faces of the portions of. the blocks forming the opposite sides of the socket.

It is a feature of this disclosure that the possibility of accidentally closing the circuit at any open socket is minimized because of the necessity of simultaneously closing both sets of terminals on opposite sides of the sockets and further the fact that the contacts are within the groove renders any accidental closing almost impossible. It is appreciated that should a conducting part of the heater, for instance, accidentally close the terminals on one side, it would be just about impossible at the same time to close the terminals on the other side, In other words the device operates in its circuit closing function only when both breaks in the fixed part of the circuit forming means are closed at the same time.

The parts are so designed that it is practically impossible to damage any part of the electrical equipment in the cabinet and even if one of the heating elements in one of the jaws should burn out or otherwise become damaged, the damaged part can be readily repaired and the heater as a whole restored to its useful condition, Making the heating elements independently of each other in each of the jaws avoids the necessity of a connecting and exposed conductor as is usual in such devices now known and thus tends to defeat entangling the device in the hair or dress of the user or operator. The device will not operate at all unless the circuit is completed through both heating elements and, as noted above, this can not take place until the lower contacts of cach element is in position to be connected through the tie plates 32 concealed in the cabinet.

While there have been shown, described and pointed out in the annexed claims, certain novel features of the invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a hair waving device, the combination of a cabinet, a bar of insulating material mounted on the cabinet and having its front and rear faces exposed and readily accessible, said bar provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart socket forming recesses in the upper face horizontally above the bottom thereof, a removable hair-waving heater including a pair of hair clamping jaws adapted to be heated, each jaw provided with an electric heating element for heating the same and a laterally projecting handle of heat insulating material, said heater demountably disposed in one of said recesses with the handles extending in parallel relation across and projecting beyond the front and rear faces of the bar with the jaws extending vertically and located in the space in rear of the rear face of the bar, the portions of the handles which extend beyond the front face providing finger engaging ends separated from the hot jaws by the intervening bar, means including said heating elements forming an electric circuit, said means also including a pair of coacting contacts in mutual resilient engagement, one of said contacts fixed in the bar and'facing the recess and the other carried by one of the handles and forming one of the terminals of the heating element associated with said handle and a spring acting between the handles tending to separate them and to force them into engagement with the part of the bar which outlines opposite sides of the recess.

2. In a hair waving equipment, the combination of an upstanding contact block provided with a rectangular, open top, easily accessible socket having a bottom heater-receiving surface and a pair of opposing walls defining opposite sides ofA the socket, the other two sides being open, each wall provided with a groove extending downwardly from the open top and said grooves opposing each other, means forming an electric circuit and including a pair of fixed terminals carried by each wall and exposed at its associated groove, each pair of terminals forming a break in said circuit and a hair waving heater free of external wires adapted to fit in the socket and having portions thereof projecting through and' beyond the open sides, said heater provided with two electric heating elements independent of each 'other and two pairs of spring elements, one pair forming the terminals for each heating element, one pair projecting from one side of the heater and the other pair projecting from the opposite side of the heater, and said contacts disposed when the heater is located in engagement with the bottom surface of the socket to set the spring contacts in circuit closing engagement with their associated fixed terminals whereby the insertion of the heater in position automatically closes the circuit through both of its heater elements.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bar provided with a plurality of open top sockets, each adapted to receive a circuit closing member and each defined by a pair of walls facing each other, each wall having a pair of terminals exposed therethrough, with one terminal spaced above the other and with the terminals of one wall facing the terminals of the opposite wall, a lower conductor connecting the lower terminals of each socket, an upper conductor connecting the upper terminal of one socket with the upper terminal of the next adjacent socket and leads alternately connecting succeeding upper conductors with opposite sides of a source of electric energy.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a pair of opposing walls forming a heater containing space therebetween, a heater including a pair of members tting in said space, means forming an electric circuit including two pairs of fixed terminals, one pair carried by each wall, two bridging elements, one carried by each member, a pair of spring contacts forming the terminals of one bridging element, a second pair of spring contacts forming the terminals of the other bridging element, said pairs of spring contacts carried on the side of the members facing the xed terminals and in circuit closing engagement therewith and a relatively strong spring acting between the members and tending to force the spring contacts into engagement with their associated fixed terminals.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a pair of opposing walls forming a heater containing space therebetween, a heater including a pair of members fitting in said space, means forming an electric circuit including a pair of xed terminals carried by one of the walls, a bridging element carried by one of the members, a pair of spring contacts carried by said member, Forming the terminals of said element and in circuit closing engagement with the fixed contacts and a spring having a tension greater than that of the spring contacts, acting between said members and tending to force the spring contacts into engagement with the fixed contacts.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of means forming a heater-containing space, and a hair waving heater provided with a pair of handles located in said space, a spring acting between the handles to separate them and to force them into pressing engagement with the opposing parts of said means outlining opposite sides of said space, means forming an electric circuit including two terminals carried by each of said opposing parts, a terminal of one part being connected electrically to one terminal of the other part to form two breaks in the circuit, one in each part, said heater provided with a heating element electrically bridging the two terminals in one part when the heater is in position in said space, said heater provided with a second heating element independent of the rst named heating element and electrically connecting said other two terminals when the first two xed terminals are bridged.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination of a Croquignole heater free of external wires and comprising a pair of jaws pivotally connected, each jaw provided with a heating element and said elements being independent of each other, each jaw provided with a handle of insulating material, tension means acting between the handles and tending to maintain the handles in relatively distended position and the jaws in clamping position, each handle provided with a pair of spring contacts, forming the terminals or" the associated heating element and exposed on the outer sides of the handles and means providing a connection with a source of electric energy and adapted to be engaged by the exposed spring contacts to energize the heating elements.

8. In a device of the class described, the cornbination of a bar of heat insulating material provided on its upper side with a heater receiving socket extending horizontally therethrough, a removable heater provided with a pair of handles extending in substantially parallel relation, located in said socket and projecting horizontally therefrom beyond opposite sides of the bar, a hot metallic hair clamp exposed beyond one side of the bar at one end of the handles and having' an end thereof projecting above the bar and exposed to the external air, the other end of the handles each provided with a finger engaging aperture extending therethrough, and said apertured portion of the handles projecting beyond the adjacent side of the bar, said apertures tending tc air cool the projecting ends of the handles, the portion of the bar adjacent to and on opposite sides of the socket providing a relatively cool stop for the ngers of the operator when grasping the apertured end of the handle to remove the hot heater from its socket.

9. In apparatus for use in waving hair, the combination of a pair of substantially semi-cylindrical metallic members hingedly connected along one edge to form a hair clamp, each member provided with a handle of insulating material projecting from said hinge edge, a spring acting between the handles tending to separate them, and each handle provided at its free end with a stop piece, said stop pieces projecting toward each other from the handle and coacting to limit the movement of the handles toward each other against the tension of the spring and a support including opposing walls forming a socket open at top and along one side and said walls spaced apart a distance to receive therebetween the handles when in position compressing the spring with the stop pieces almost touching each other and said spring acting to maintain the handles pressed resiliently against said walls.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination of a bar of insulating material, provided in its upper side with two heater receiving recesses with a block of the material between the recesses, three aligned rods contained in the bar, the middle bar extending through the block and having its opposite ends forming terminals exposed to the recesses, the other two rods having the ends forming terminals respectively exposed, one to one of the recesses and the other to the other recess, opposed to the ends of the middle bar, a source of electric current comprising two leads, means for connecting the three aligned rods alternately, the rst rod to one of the leads and the next to the other lead, four other terminals contained in the bar, arranged in pairs, one for each recess exposed to their associated recess, two conductors, one for each recess electrically and permanently connecting the terminals of its associated said two pairs and two heaters, one for each recess, each heater provided with two circuit closing means, each disposed when the heater is in place for connecting a terminal of the rst mentioned rods with one of the two terminals of each pair.

JOHN METZ. 

